From wuxia to gangsters to kung fu, from Jimmy Wang Yu to Ti Lung to Phil-
ip Kwok, Chang Cheh’s career was massive, and arguably the most prolific director Shaw Brothers ever had. Arrow’s recent Shawscope release includes only 5 films from the director’s oeuvre, but this is such a small portrait of an extensive filmography (with 94 credits as director on HKMDB). Listed below are a selection of my favorites from one of the best directors Hong Kong had. THE DUEL (1971) One Armed Swordsman may have been my introduction, but The Duel was when I fell in love with his work. Immediately from the opening cards, hearing the theme to Costa Gavras’ Z being played over them plastered a smile on my face that did not leave at all. It introduced me to the Iron Triangle, collaborations between actors David Chiang and Ti Lung with Chang Cheh, and since then those films have been my favorite of Chang’s. Ti Lung is Tien Ren, who must go into exile after the murder of his master and father figure, but he soon learns he’s at the center of a betrayal plot. David Chiang is Jian Nan or “the Rambler,” and he acts as a sword for hire who ends up killing Tien Ren’s master. Tien Ren then swears to kill Jian Nan after he kills the bosses that betrayed him, but Jian Nan saves him time and time again due to a sense of duty (Tien Ren had saved him in the film’s opening knife fight). It’s this sense of honor that defines The Duel and Chang Cheh’s work as a whole: Tien’s loyalty to his master and Jian’s to Tien. Both of these men are knight-errants in a cruel world where gangster 19
